Integration With Britain Party - History

History

In the 1969 elections, the Association for the Advancement of Civil Rights (AACR) got seven seats; the IWBP five; and the independent group led by Peter Isola three. Joshua Hassan, the leader of the AACR was unable to get the support of Isola, which, in turn, supported the IWBP. In June 1972, Peliza dissolved the House of Assembly and called for anticipated elections. Although it obtained its better results in an election, obtaining seven seats, it was defeated by the AACR, which obtained eight seats and 52 per cent of vote. The results took Joshua Hassan to power again, remaining Peliza as leader of the Opposition. In October 1972, Maurice Xiberras took over as party and Opposition leader.

The party political stands were mainly two: the parity of wages between the labour force in Gibraltar and that in the United Kingdom and the achievement of the integration with the United Kingdom. Although the struggle on parity was successful and Gibraltar work force got the parity in July 1978, the party's main aim of closer links with the UK was dealt a severe blow when in 1975, the British Foreign Office Minister, Roy Hattersley, stated that integration was not acceptable to the British Government. In spite of it, during early 1976, a Gibraltarian inter-party Constitution Committee began to work on a proposal of constitutional changes that involved a further integration of Gibraltar with the United Kingdom. A delegation of the Constitution Committee, comprising Joshua Hassan and Maurice Xiberras visited London in June 1976, but were unable to convince the United Kingdom Government which, as response, issued a memorandum rejecting the proposals. At the subsequent election, held in September 1976, although Xiberras assured his seat at the Assembly, the AACR obtained eight seats (with a personal vote of 75.3 per cent for its leader Hassan). The party later broke up and was succeeded in 1978 by the Democratic Party of British Gibraltar, led first by Maurice Xiberras (who due to family problems resigned his seat in the Assembly in 1979 and relocated to Britain), and subsequently by Peter Isola.